1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication networks, such as integrated digital networks, which include a plurality of switching nodes. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for automatically loading data sets, such as system management software, to a given node in the network from neighbor nodes in the network.
2. Description of Related Art
Integrated digital networks, or other large communications systems, include a number of nodes at which calls and other data being transmitted through the network are routed. In modern systems, each node is a switching center that runs under individual network management software control. This network management software is a large data set that must be stored in non-volatile memories so that it is not lost when power goes down at a given node. Such large non-volatile memory can be quite expensive as compared with the overall cost of the switching node. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the number of nodes in a given network system that are required to store the system management software, or other large data sets, without degrading the performance of the switches or the network. This can be accomplished by providing large dynamic random access memory which is much less expensive than the non-volatile storage on individual nodes and by loading the required system management software from neighbor nodes when the particular node is turned on. However, the loading of a large data set from a neighbor node can be time-consuming Further, in large networks, several versions of a given system management software may exist. Therefore, when initializing a node that must load the system management software from a neighbor, care must be taken to retrieve the desired version of the system management software.